On 10 May 2012 at the Ninth Intergovernmental Session of the IOC Sub-Commission for the Western Pacific (WESTPAC-IX) in Busan, Republic of Korea, Dr. Wendy Watson-Wright, Assistant Director-General of UNESCO and Executive Secretary of Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, presented a certificate of appointment to Dr. Fangli Qiao in recognition of his appointment from 2011-2015 as the Director of the IOC Regional Training and Research Center on Ocean Dynamics and Climate.
This Regional Training and Research Center was initiated within the framework of “IOC/UNESCO Regional Network of Training and Research Centers on Oceanography”, and officially established through a signed agreement between IOC and First Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration of China at the 8th Intergovernmental Session of IOC Sub-Commission for the Western Pacific (WESTPAC), May 2010 in Bali, Indonesia. It will provide regular training, once a year on ocean dynamics, air-sea interaction, and numerical modelling, to young scientists, particularly from developing countries in the region.
The IOC/UNESCO Regional initiative “IOC/UNESCO Regional Network of Training and Research Centers on Oceanography” was launched in May 2008 at the Seventh Intergovernmental Session of IOC Sub-Commission for the Western Pacific (WESTPAC), in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia with objectives to improve the regional capacity and capability on marine scientific research, observations in a more sustainable and systematic manner through the establishment of a series of training and research centers within national oceanographic institutes and universities and the provision of regular training opportunities within these established centers on their specialization to young scientists, particularly from developing countries on a free-of-charge basis.
“I would assure you that the UNESCO/IOC Regional Training and Research Center on Ocean Dynamics and Climate (ODC) will join the effort and commit itself to achieving its objective through enhancing the regional capacity and capability on the research of ocean dynamics, air-sea interaction, climate change, and numerical modeling, by providing an open platform for young scientists to explore ocean and climate sciences, and by establishing a clearing house for the world leading scientists to share their ideas with the society”, said Dr. Fangli Qiao.
Dr. Fangli Qiao presented the major activities of the Center since its establishment. He informed the meeting that immediately after the inauguration ceremony of the Center on 9 June 2011, the first regional training course on ocean models was subsequently organized in the ODC center during 10-16 June 2011. There was tremendous interest to join the workshop from within and beyond the region. Ultimately, 10 world leading scientists on ocean numerical modeling and 69 trainees were selected from 10 countries.
According to its five year plan (2011-2015), the second training course on ocean dynamics is planned and scheduled for 16-22 July 2012. For more information on the upcoming second training course and the ODC center, please visit this link http://www.fio.org.cn/english/training_center/index.htm